A 100 word a day commitment… occasionally revisited

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Day #61 “Just Why” Asks a Student

The Connecticut SBAC pilot tests for the 11th graders in English/Language Arts and math concluded this week in our district. For eight hours, students sat in computer labs taking the field tests, but they will not know their individual results.
So, rather than lose all productivity, I asked students to complete a series of feedback questions in order to help teachers prepare for the exams next year. There were separate surveys created in Google forms for math and for English/Language Arts and math, and 68 students responded to the surveys over the course of the testing.

The results were interesting and will help us prepare students in future years. Some of the questions included:

Were the questions well worded? Did you understand what you were required to do?

78% yes
22% no

Were there any technical issues?

66% No
34% Yes

How was the calculator to use?

70% easy to use
30% difficult to use

Students were asked to rate their ability to complete this test with or without scrap paper; 18% of students felt scrap paper was unnecessary while at the other end of the scale 25% of students absolutely need scrap paper.
Finally, each survey had a comment section where students either complained (“we already have SAT, SAT Prep’s and much more”) or made recommendations (“I would recommend that students in CP prepare more like the ones in AP did, with questions based off of the test, since a lot of them were similar to the ones AP asked.”)

The best comment, however, was a simple two word evaluation made on the last day of testing: “Just why?”